Bystander Training Now Required for Incoming Pitt-Greensburg Freshmen

Incoming freshmen will be required to complete Bystander Training come Fall 2016. This training, previously offered only to faculty and staff, will now be necessary for the entirety of campus.

Students will complete the first part of Bystander Training during Welcome Week with their freshman seminar class groups, and then will finish with part two during the fall semester in their freshman seminar classes.

Upperclassmen will be offered open Bystander Training sessions that they can attend throughout next fall. The Student Government Association will also be working to schedule a Bystander Training session before the end of this semester.

Title IX Laws prevent any person from being excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance.

It is due to this law that Vice President Joe Biden began his It’s On Us initiative to end sexual assault on college campuses. In fact, Tuesday, April 5th Vice President Biden spoke at The University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland Campus about the It’s On Us campaign.

Due to Pitt-Greensburg’s good relationship with the Blackburn Center Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the university has been receiving their training through this center. The Blackburn Center’s course, “Bringing in the Bystander,” will continue to be used to teach incoming freshmen.